Perranwell station is on the
Maritime Line between
Truro
Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...
and
Falmouth Docks
Falmouth Docks are a deep-water docks of the town of Falmouth in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The docks are the southern shore of the Fal Estuary which is the third largest natural harbour in the world and the deepest in Europe. They ex ...
in south-west England. It is measured from (via Box and Plymouth Millbay). The station is managed by, and the services are operated by,
Great Western Railway.
History
![2009 at Perranwell station - goods shed](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2f/2009_at_Perranwell_station_-_goods_shed.jpg)
The station was opened as ''Perran'' on 24 August 1863 when the
Cornwall Railway
The Cornwall Railway was a broad gauge railway from Plymouth in Devon to Falmouth in Cornwall, England, built in the second half of the nineteenth century. It was constantly beset with shortage of capital for the construction, and was eventu ...
opened the line from Truro to Falmouth, it was renamed ''Perranwell'' on 19 February 1864 to avoid confusion with nearby .
It originally had 2 platforms either side of a passing loop, a goods shed with several sidings to south, one of which was equipped with a 2-ton crane, the yard was able to accommodate live stock and most types of goods. The signal box here was very distinctive, being sited on girders above the track alongside the goods shed.
The station was host to a
GWR camp coach from 1936 to 1939. A camping coach was also positioned here by the
Western Region from 1952 to 1964.
The Cornwall Railway was amalgamated into the
Great Western Railway on 1 July 1889. The Great Western Railway was
nationalised into
British Railways from 1 January 1948 but was then privatised in the 1990s.
The
goods shed
A goods shed is a railway building designed for storing goods before or after carriage in a train. A typical goods shed will have a track running through it to allow goods wagons to be unloaded under cover, although sometimes they were built ...
still stands in the forecourt despite goods traffic ceasing on 4 January 1965. A dry drinking fountain can be seen on the platform, a reminder of more important days.
![Carnon Viaduct](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ee/Carnon_Viaduct.jpg)
A short distance on either side of the station, valleys had to be crossed on lofty
timber viaducts. To the north,
Carnon viaduct crossed 96 feet above the
Carnon River
The Carnon River ( kw, Avon Carnon) is a heavily polluted river in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It starts in Chacewater. Trewedna Water and River Kennall flow into the Carnon before it merges with Tallack's Creek to become Restronguet Creek, which ...
valley and the
Redruth and Chasewater Railway
The Redruth and Chasewater Railway, (otherwise called the ''Redruth and Chacewater Railway'' using modern spelling), was an early mineral railway line in Cornwall, England, UK. It opened in 1825 and was built to convey the output from copper mine ...
. In the other direction, trains crossed the smaller Perran Viaduct (56 feet high, 339 feet long).
In the 1980s the station had become run down with only a small aluminium shelter with polycarbonate panels offering protection for passengers. However, during the late 1990s a new brick waiting shelter was built as part of a refurbishment programme at all the "Maritime Line" stations.
Facilities
There is just one platform with level access from the car park. There are information boards on the platform, as well as a waiting shelter. There are no ticket buying facilities, so passengers have to buy a ticket in advance or from the guard on the train.
Services
The new loop at Penryn allowed services on the
Maritime Line to be doubled in frequency from 17 May 2009 to give up to a half-hourly service, however when two trains are operating only alternate services call at Perranwell.
Community Rail
The railway from Truro to Falmouth is designated as a
community rail
Community rail in Britain is the support of railway lines and stations by local organisations, usually through community rail partnerships (CRPs) comprising railway operators, local councils, and other community organisations, and rail user grou ...
line and is supported by marketing provided by the
Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership
The Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership is the largest Community Rail Partnership in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1991 to promote the use of, and improvements to, rural railways in Devon and Cornwall, and also to promote the places serv ...
. The line is promoted under the "
Maritime Line" name.
[Department for Transport, Rail Group (2006), ''Route prospectus for the … The Maritime Line'']
References
Further reading
*''The Great Western Railway in Mid Cornwall'', Alan Bennett, Kingfisher Railway Publications, Southampton 1988.
External links
{{Cornwall railway stations
Railway stations in Cornwall
Former Great Western Railway stations
Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1863
Railway stations served by Great Western Railway
DfT Category F2 stations